As manufactured products are subjected to more extreme environments and more extreme uses, limitations of properties of materials become a greater concern. In response, properties of materials are continuously being improved. Arrangement of particles in a predetermined pattern within a material can provide desired properties.
Known materials are strengthened by blending nano-particles with a matrix to form a reinforced blend. The reinforced blend includes increased viscosity and greater strength. However, the reinforced blend can be costly and can result in undesirable properties such as brittleness. In addition, the reinforced blend can include randomly oriented nano-particles throughout and is not able to be utilized for applications requiring ordered nano-particles.
A known process positions ordered nano-particles in a matrix by stretching the matrix and placing the nano-particles in voids created by the stretching of the matrix. The nano-particles are generally aligned consistently in the voids of the matrix. This process suffers from the drawback that the nano-particles must be substantially identical in size, thereby resulting in additional costs. Furthermore, the alignment of the nano-particles is unpredictable because it is limited by where the voids are formed in the matrix thereby preventing arrangement of the nano-particles.
In another known process, nano-fibers are positioned in a predetermined location and joined together with a matrix to form a flat ply having a desired design of the nano-fibers. The flat ply is cut into a pattern, stacked with additional flat plies, and/or bent to form a desired shape. This process suffers from the drawback that it results in unpredictable fracturing of fiber ends due to trimming, unpredictable fracturing of voids due to trimming, delamination, undesirable movement of nano-fibers, and undesirable scraps of nano-fibers.
Arranging of micro-fibers is known. As used herein, the term “micro-fiber” refers to visually discernible fibers having a diameter between about 15 microns and about 100 microns. In the past, micro-fibers have been arranged by mechanical systems for orienting the fibers and by applying a magnetic field. For example, in a known process, disc-shaped ferromagnetic flakes having a diameter of about 20 microns and a thickness of about 1 micron were arranged by applying a magnetic field. The flakes are of a sufficient size to be visually discernable and are of a sufficient size to be separated to substantially consistent sizes. The micro-fibers do not provide the properties available with nano-particles.
A material including nano-particles arranged in a predetermined pattern and a process of arranging nano-particles in a predetermined pattern would be desirable in the art.